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The siege of Yorktown was the last major land battle of the American Revolutionary War in North America, and led to the surrender of General Cornwallis and the capture of both him and his army. The Continental Army 's victory at Yorktown prompted the British government to negotiate an end to the conflict.
Cornwallis was eventually ordered by General Clinton to establish a fortified deep-water port at either Yorktown or Portsmouth. Cornwallis chose Yorktown, and began constructing fortifications there and Gloucester Point, just across the York River from Yorktown, in August 1781.
The painting depicts the surrender of British Lieutenant General Charles, Earl Cornwallis at Yorktown, Virginia, on October 19, 1781, ending the siege of Yorktown, which virtually guaranteed American independence. Included in the depiction are many leaders of the American troops that took part in the siege of Yorktown.
By December 1780, the American Revolutionary War's North American theatres had reached a critical point. The Continental Army had suffered major defeats earlier in the year, with its southern armies either captured or dispersed in the loss of Charleston and the Battle of Camden in the south, while the armies of George Washington and the British commander-in-chief for North America, Sir Henry ...
The Battle of Yorktown or siege of Yorktown was fought from April 5 to May 4, 1862, as part of the Peninsula Campaign of the American Civil War.Marching from Fort Monroe, Union Maj. Gen. George B. McClellan's Army of the Potomac encountered Maj. Gen. John B. Magruder's small Confederate force at Yorktown behind the Warwick Line.
Gloucester point was an obvious escape route from Yorktown. Marquis de Choisy was assigned the Virginia militia, Lauzun's Legion , and 800 French Marines. Opposite them was Tarleton's Legion , Simcoe's Rangers , the 80th Foot regiment, and the Erb Prinz (Prince Hereditaire) regiment.
The light infantry division performed two notable services during the Siege of Yorktown. The first was to participate through fatigues and pickets in the advance of the American lines around Yorktown; this work began on in earnest on 30 September 1781.
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